In the industrial processes for electroplating, it is customary to hang cathodes and anodes and submerge them in the electrolyte of the electrolysis cells or tanks, placing the support bar of each anode or cathode directly over the bus bars that are located in the upper longitudinal borders of the cells. With this system, whereby the anodes and cathodes have guides for their movement inside the tanks, they cannot oscillate as if they were pendulums submerged in the electrolyte.
Consequently, a large part of the inconveniences were corrected by introducing a support structure made of insulating material inside the cell, such as the one described in Chilean Patent Application N° 1020-04, in which each anode and each cathode is located in a fixed vertical position by means of guides that also ensure a uniform spacing between them, thus also preventing the relative movement of these. Although the structure resolves the problems inherent to the lack of electrode guides (oscillation), it so happens that careless use or operation can provoke an alteration, slight damages or breakage in the anode or cathode guides; and in order to repair them the process must be stopped, the support structure of insulating material removed completely from the cell, and the repairs carried out.
Another inconvenience of the current operation of electroplating cells arises during the introduction of the cathodes between the anodes once these have been submerged in the cell. The cathodes, which currently consist of sheets of stainless steel, must be inserted in lateral vertical guides such as those indicated in Chilean Patent Application N° 1020-04. This operation is executed by hanging the cathodes by the upper bars on a support which is transferred to a Cell using a crane, making them descend so that they will be introduced between the anodes. As the separation distance between anodes in the Cell is approximately 10 centimeters, during the introduction there are frequent impacts of the lower borders of the cathodes with the upper bars of the anodes, which produces deformation or breakage of the sheets or bars and delays the operation unnecessarily.